New Delhi: While the tiger, India’s National Animal, fights a losing battle for survival, pontiffs at the Tirupati temple have come up with a unique idea.
At an ongoing conference on the “importance of Gomatha (mother cow)”, the Pejawar Mutt Pontiff Sri Visweswara Theertha Swamy requested the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams to help declare cow as the country’s national animal.
The TTD manages the Lord Venkateswara Temple at Tirumala and his hosting 'Vande Gomatharam', the three-day national conference.
Inaugurating the conference, the seer of Pejawar Mutt (Udipi) said he was “hurt” by the incidents cow slaughter and appealed to NGOs to spread awareness to protect the bovine.
N S Ramaswamy of CARTMAN – a Bangalore-based organisation that promotes “harmonious relationships between, man, animal and nature” – highlighted the importance of livestock.
The livestock provided output in the way of milk, work, and valued at Rs.1.6 lakh crore per annum, forming 7 per cent of India's GNP, he said making a request to the Union Government to hike the budget of Rs 100 crore per year for the welfare of the livestock.
In October 2005, the Supreme Court had made cow slaughter illegal in Gujarat. The apex court upheld the ban on cow slaughter in Gujarat passed by the Gujarat High Court in 1994.
A seven-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice RC Lahoti, backed the case of the Gujarat government that the ban was in public interest and showed compassion to living creatures.
A year later, in October 2006, about 50 people were injured and 100 detained when Bajrang Dal activists stopped a truck-load of cows being taken to the slaughter-house in Mangalore.
(With PTI inputs)
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